Is Apple already testing a new iPhone?

Of course it was to be expected that we would see another iteration of the vastly popular smartphone this year, but the iPhone 5 is barely out of its diapers. Is Apple pushing their development cycles faster lately in reaction to Samsung’s quick turnaround time? Only time will tell, but for now, we seem to have evidence that it is already entering testing phase.

The Next Web has reported that one iOS developer has discovered the testing of a device named ‘iPhone 6,1’ which is running iOS7. The developer picked it up when the device was making requests from an IP address within Apple’s campus in Cupertino.

The interesting thing is that the current iPhone 5 has the identifiers ‘iPhone5,1’ and ‘iPhone5,2’ depending on the model of the handset and on which 4G bands it operates. This would imply that we might be seeing an iPhone 6 sometime in the middle of the year, and not an iPhone 5S as is widely expected.

We know Apple has promised to up the secrecy on any new devices as we pretty much knew everything there was to know about the newest iPhone and iPad Mini before it was launched. So it could be that it’s a hoax and someone got a hold of an Apple IP address. Or, it could really be the testing of the iPhone 6, and it is only earmarked for a 2014 release. We do know Apple tests their devices years before it is released or details are leaked.

Whatever the case may be, it would be great if Apple just made a whole new device and revamped the interface and features of iOS. My one criticism of iOS is that it is starting to feel a bit stale. Do you think Apple will release an iPhone 5S (or whatever it will be called) or the iPhone 6 next? Let us know in the comments below.